1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a disk cartridge assembly for data storage, and more particularly, to a disk cartridge with an anti-rattle mechanism.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Data storage disk systems employing removable disk cartridges are generally used to add additional hard drive storage to a computer system or to provide backup storage capacity. The disk cartridges may contain either a single disk or more than one disk each having two recording surfaces. The disks within these disk cartridges are generally optical or magnetic disks of varying sizes and storage capacities.
Removable disk cartridges for storing digital electronic information typically include an outer cartridge or shell containing one or more rotatable storage medium or disk upon which electronic information is stored. The cartridge includes upper and lower cartridge members which are joined together to form a housing for the disk. The disk is mounted on a central hub assembly which holds the disk and allows the disk to rotate within the cartridge housing when data is being read from or written to the recording surfaces. When the disk cartridge is inserted into a disk drive, a spindle motor in the disk drive engages the disk hub in order to rotate the disk within the housing as a read/write head reads or writes data from or to recording surfaces of the disk.
The disk cartridge housing generally includes some form of an opening to provide the read/write head of the drive with access to the recording surfaces of the disk. A shutter or door mechanism is often provided which covers the cartridge opening when the cartridge is not in the disk drive to prevent damage to the recording surfaces of the disks. As the disk cartridge is inserted into the disk drive the door mechanism is opened by a door activator of the disk drive to allow access to the recording surfaces of the disk.
When the disk cartridge is seated inside the disk drive the disk is positioned within the cartridge with some running clearance between the disk and the cartridge side walls as well as between the disk and the cartridge top and bottom walls to prevent the disk from contacting the cartridge walls during rotation. However, this clearance allows the disk to move around within the cartridge when the cartridge is not in the disk drive. This motion of the disk within the cartridge may create undesirable debris and particulates which contaminate the recording surfaces of the disk.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a disk cartridge with an anti-rattle mechanism to minimize motion of the disk within the cartridge when the disk is outside of the disk drive.